Belknap House starts expansion campaign with $300,000 donation from St. James Episcopal Church

LACONIA — After serving the community for seven years, the Belknap House is looking to expand. St. James Episcopal Church is supporting this endeavor with a $300,000 donation.

Belknap House is a year-round shelter that specifically serves families in Belknap County experiencing homelessness. The church received money in 2022 from the estate of Richard H. Coggon II, a Laconia High School social studies teacher for 34 years and longtime supporter of the church who died in October 2020. According to a joint press release from the church and Belknap House, St. James thought Coggon would stand behind their decision to use those funds for this donation.

Carrie Pearson of St. James is confident in this decision, as well.

“St. James had been a supporter of Belknap House since its inception,” Pearson said. “We've always given them a small amount of money every year. This was a huge bequest to us. And it came with no strings attached. So, we wanted to take our time and make sure it went someplace that was going to make a difference.”

The entirety of the donation will go toward the expansion, approved by the Belknap House board this summer. The plan is to purchase an apartment complex of three or four units that will act as transitional housing for families looking to secure their own place. But according to Belknap House Executive Director Paula Ferenc, securing permanent housing for these families is much more difficult than it used to be.

“Rates of rentals have skyrocketed,” Ferenc said. “[It’s] getting increasingly difficult each year to have families move forward. So, families are now stuck being homeless.”

Belknap House needs to expand because they don’t have enough space for all the families in need of housing. Belknap House currently offers individual rooms for families, with communal spaces like a kitchen. The apartments would hopefully allow for a more comfortable living situation for large families.

“We have families calling us all the time,” Ferenc said. “The phone rings weekly, three or four calls of families who have no place to go.”

There are two families currently living in Belknap House who were displaced when their rentals were sold. Ferenc said this type of displacement is hard to recover from due to the low vacancy rate in Belknap County and the average price for rentals continuing to rise.

According to the New Hampshire 2023 Residential Rental Cost Survey Report, state-wide vacancy rates are 0.6% for a two-bedroom apartment. The annual increase in monthly median gross rent is 11.4% or $1,764 a month, meaning a New Hampshire renter would have to earn more than $70,600 per year to afford the median cost of a two-bedroom apartment, based on a traditional cost of housing to income ratio.

Because of the pressuring need to move families into transitional housing, Belknap House is in search of apartments. With the rising price tag, it has been difficult to locate what they needed for the expansion. The St. James church donation has allowed the organization to take actionable steps forward, while the nonprofit continues fundraising for the expansion project.

“It's as important to just really embrace people that are in the situation with an understanding heart, because they are certainly like anybody else,” Ferenc said. “Unfortunately, the circumstances are really holding them at a standstill. So if people can understand that as well, whatever they could give, it would all be welcome.”

Ferenc said Belknap House is grateful for the donation from St. James Episcopal Church and the Coggon estate.

“We want to thank St. James. We're very grateful for [them] supporting our community, as they always have, but this indeed is far and above,” Ferenc said. “We are deeply grateful for this opportunity to be able to really look into a place ... to really move forward.”

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The Sunshine Effect is a new series in The Laconia Daily Sun highlighting the people and organizations working to improve our communities through volunteering and fundraising. We believe that telling their stories will encourage others to support their work, and launch new charitable efforts of their own. Have a suggestion for someone making a difference we should feature? Share it with us at laconiadailysun.com/sunshineeffecttip.